Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my Mom's 75th birthday.  She died 23 years ago (March 10, 1989)
as a result of ALS. 23 years is a long time not to have your mother in your life. 
I've missed sharing so much with her; my children, jobs, interests, family, etc. There are times
when I have to make myself remember things that are important to remember like her laugh,
her little mannerisms and all the fun times we had.  I wonder how much different my children's
lives would be if they had their Grandma Betty in their lives.  She was so excited to be a
Grandma, and that awful disease prohibited her from being the kind of grandma that she wanted to be.

Here's a couple fun memories of my Mom.
1.  When we lived on the farm, I had a horse named Ginger.  Ginger had a terrible habit
of bucking people off when you wanted her to gallop.  She would walk anywhere you wanted her to,
but kick in for faster movement and she would just start bucking.  One day after getting bucked off yet
another time, I went crying to Mom.  She stomped out to the barnyard (she was barely 5 feet tall,
so stomping might be too strong of a word) grabbed Ginger by the reins and climbed on. 
Now this feat alone was heroic because of her size and the fact she hated horses.  She kicked in
and Ginger took off and then immediately stopped, lowered her head and deposited Mom in the
biggest mud puddle she could find.  All of us laughed and she wasn't hurt. Sadly, Ginger didn't stay
very long after that because a horse that won't gallop isn't much fun. 
2.  We lived in the new house in Oakley and one summer day, Mom had us outside watering trees.  She
didn't think we were moving quite fast enough and came out to nag us,  as mother's often resort to. 
I had the hose and sprayed her.  A full blown water fight ensued and it is one of my fondest memories of my mom and the 3 of us kids having fun. Yes, we were all soaked and our jaws hurt from laughing so much.

The point is, the simplest times are the fondest memories.  Happy Birthday Mom, I miss you.